On August 1, 1983, when Commerce Casino opened its doors, it stood as the largest casino in Southern California with 80,000 square feet, 100 game tables and 500 employees. As it celebrates its 25th Anniversary, Commerce Casino has transformed into a Las Vegas style hotel-casino complex with nearly four times its original space, boasting 238,040 square feet, 243 gaming tables, and 2,800 employees. It's the world's largest poker room.

It was with great sadness that I learned of John Bonetti's passing after a long and courageous battle with prostate cancer. John's sometimes gruff demeanor turned into one of extreme kindness and generosity after he knew you for awhile.

Lewis Black, best known for his regular segment "Back in Black" on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," will perform his hilarious stand-up comedy for the first time inside the Danny Gans Theatre at The Mirage August 30 at 10 p.m. and August 31 at 9 p.m.

The first one's always free. -"Soapy" Smith

[This is a work of poker fiction set ten thousand hands in the future. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.]

Montgomery "Soapy" Smith, the greatest of all nineteenth century con men, was the creator of what we now call three-card Monte. In the 1900's it was called Soapy's swindle. The game required a pitch man to talk up the game, an inside man to run the game, one or more outside men to pretend to play the game, and a foolish man, the victim of the game.

UltimateBet has its hands full and some explaining to do, as does former UB owner and 1994 World Series of Poker main event champion Russ Hamilton.

The majority of the World Series may be over, but before the final table of the main event even gets underway, there is the small matter of the WSOP-E to contend with. Last year was the inaugural year for the WSOP in Europe and this year they've added a fourth bracelet event to the schedule, which takes place at the Empire Casino in London's Leicester Square this September.

In the past two years I have won two bad beat jackpots playing hold 'em in local Los Angeles area casinos. Exciting! Rewarding! Sure, I was lucky; the odds must be a gazillion-to-1 against it happening, but, over the long run, it can-and obviously does happen.

The rules and payoffs vary from casino to casino. Typically, you must have aces-full-of-tens or better beaten by four-of-a-kind or better at the showdown, with each player using both of his hole cards in his best five-card hand.

Things that are said at the table about other players can be just a sign of low-life rudeness or a strategy to put other players on tilt. Or both. If your goal is to put the player on tilt, avoid personal insults that are "Ad Hominem," (to the man). It's best to make your comment about the action-not the person.

Legal gambling can be one of most profitable businesses around.

Take for example Penn National Gaming. The company owns four Argosy and four Hollywood casinos; manages the 200,000 square foot Rama Casino in Canada; owns three other casinos, including the Empress Joliet; operates telephone and internet wagering on races, and owns nearly a dozen OTB facilities and racetracks, some with slot machines, including Penn National Race Course. All this legal gaming brings in revenue of about $1.5 billion a year.

Individuals' motivations for playing poker vary. Some play to earn a living, some for enjoyment, and others play to fuel their competitive juices. Understanding the reasons why your opponents are at the table is vital in getting the best of it.

A few weeks ago in Las Vegas I witnessed a player who I believe was trying to lose. Not an individual like Mrs. Goldman, who tries to win but is hopelessly lost at a poker table, rather someone who thinks he wants to win but whose actions are the diametric opposite.